Elsa's Last Winter
by neroandthelyre
Summary: Post-movie. Elsa takes on the task of being queen. Anna enjoys her romance with Kristoff. Both are spending more time out of the castle, and seeing more of life. As Anna and Elsa try to find happiness in their own unique way, they are unknowingly setting in motion a series of small events that could end with disastrous consequences for all of Arendelle.
1. Chapter 1

***A/N**

**Hi guys. I hope you will enjoy reading my take on the continuation of frozen after the movie. Please take the time to not only read this, but also the second and third chapters before deciding if you like this series or not. The second chapter has elsa :D**

**Also please remember to review, follow, and favorite, if you think this story is worthy. Keep in mind that those gifts of attention I need for subsistence. If you think this story has potential, please give me your feedback (constructive please)**

**Anyways, enjoy the story. I post new chapters every day.**

*** end**

**CHAPTER 1.**

**Kristoff tells Anna about the Harvest Festival.  
**

*** ANNA**

The Harvest Festival, as Kristoff told Anna, was a night of celebration to the gods of the harvest, both for thanking them, as well as praying to them for another successful year next year. These gods didn't have any shape, nor did the Arendelle villagers worship at any symbol or idol of the gods. So really, it was just a celebration after all the hard work they did over the summer.

- "Oh it's so exciting, I can't wait to go", Anna said to Kristoff in the back garden of the castle. "I've always heard the music from my room", and she hummed one of the songs.

Kristoff, laying down in the grass by her side, only lifted his hand up a little to crane his neck to look at her face. The curious thing about Anna for him, and he wondered this often, was where did all that energy come from? Somewhere in that, comparatively, small and delicate frame was such an inexhaustible thirst for life.

Anna finished humming the part of the song she knew, and then kicked Kristoff, who had lost himself staring at her and thinking those thoughts.

"Ow," he groaned.

"Sorry," Anna said, cringing at how she was stronger than she thought she was.

"It's okay," Kristoff said.

"How did the rest of the song go?" Anna asked, after watching Kristoff rub his shin for a bit.

"Which one?"

"The one that everyone always sings, the, " and Anna hummed the chorus again. As she did this, she tried to close her eyes to remember the rest and her eyebrows arched as she started to go off key.

"You have the most amazing expression when you are trying to remember something", Kristoff said to her.

"Do I? I never noticed. And what's it called?"

"It's an old folk song. And you do."

"I do?" Anna asked.

"Yeah, you do," he confirmed.

Kristoff looked into her eyes and experienced such a sensation that was almost painful in his chest. It melted into a warmth, and Anna, seeing the effect she was having on him, smiled, creasing the corners of her eyes and making them sparkle. After doing this, Anna lifted her hand to pull back a strand of hair behind her ears, and this act so was so endearing for Kristoff, that he had to look away and cleared his throat.

"I'll go get the guitar," he said weakly. "I left it in the sled on the courtyard."

"Okay," Anna said softly, and looking at him as he walked out of the garden back into the castle, found the colors of the garden more vibrant and lively than she had ever seen them before.


	2. Chapter 2

*** A/N AT END OF CHAPTER**

**CHAPTER 2.**

**Elsa meets with a governor of Arendelle. Anna gets ready for the Festival.**

*** ELSA**

Elsa watched this scene between her sister and Kristoff from the window of her room facing the back garden. As Kristoff stood up and starting to leave, she felt Anna lifting her eyes up and quickly moved out of sight. Elsa's room was very much a princess's room, with a large queen sized bed and a desk with a small hand mirror on top of it. She did not look at the mirror much, except to brush and braid her long silver-white hair everyday, into a pony tail, which was long and fell down her back.

When Elsa saw her sister and Kristoff look at each other with that intensity, she felt almost out of place in her own body. She had this sick isolating clutch in her stomach that stayed with her even afterwards, when she sat down by her desk. Thoughts ran through her, about Anna and Kristoff, and a hatred, not of them, but of the general idea of what they were experiencing. She was seeing two people, so open to the world and capable of losing themselves in others, while she was so closed. Even if she wanted to open herself, it seemed impossible to her, being who she was and who she has been for so many years.

Soon she saw that it was past noon, and got dressed in a royal robe.

There was a knock on the door.

"Your majesty," the maid said from the other side. "The governor is here to see you."

As queen of Arendelle, she was responsible for many aspects of running a kingdom and satisfying the common people. But because of her age and her relevant naïvety to the subtleties of government, those matters were mostly dealt with by the governor. Elsa has been meeting with him more and more every day, as he slowly transfers the powers he held to her.

The governor, an older man, who had been a childhood friend of her father, met her for lunch at the dinning hall, a large room, magnificently decorated, with a long wooden table. They ate with silver cutlery, and the governor updated her on the state of the kingdom.

"Elsa," he said with a soothing and deep voice. "I think you are doing a fine job."

Elsa smiled modestly and with composure, but it was clear from an experienced eye that she very much liked to be praised. "Thank you," but I haven't done anything."

"You've taken interest in the affairs of the people."

"You mean by opening the gates once a week and having people come in if they have complaints? I thought that was the least I could do."

The governor lifted his fork in the air and waved it, "no, there's plenty of queens that do not care about their people."

"They should," Elsa said.

After they finished eating, the governor went back to his estate at the edge of the city, and Elsa went back upstairs.

*** ANNA**

The afternoon was ending, and Anna was getting more and more excited about the Harvest Festival. Kristoff had finished the song many times, talked with a raspy voice. There was nothing like young love to eat away an afternoon, and although they did absolutely nothing the entire day, they found it to have been a productive and eventful one.

"Are you going to take Sven?" Anna asked, as they left the garden and walked back into the castle.

"Of course," he said. "He likes it a lot. It's one of his favorites."

Anna knew this, as Kristoff had told her before, but she loved to ask all the time. The kind of affection Kristoff felt for his reindeer showed Anna the kind of person he was, and she still asked as if to remind him of it so that he would not change. When they climbed up the stairs and made down the corridor to Anna's room, Anna went in and closed the door as Kristoff waited in the hall.

"What should I wear?" She asked with her voice muffled by the door.

"Something nice."

"Oh what about this? No, this."

"Anna"

"I know, I know..." Elsa, hearing the noise from her room, walked out to see Kristoff pacing by Anna's door.

"Red or green, it doesn't matter... Elsa, my queen," Kristoff said and bowed.

"Thank you Kristoff, but please don't call me that," she said.

"But..."

"We are the same age."

This was fact, but somehow Elsa and Kristoff were so entirely different that their age seemed to only magnify that, instead of being something the two had in common. This was not to say Elsa was aged and not youthful in appearance, or that Kristoff was too youthful, but simply that Elsa carried herself with more composure and gravitas.

"Is that Elsa? Elsa, you have to get ready for the festival, go get changed!"

"Anna, you know I'm not going," she said.

"Why not," and Anna opened the door. She was wearing a red dress that went down to her ankles, with a red white blouse.

"Why not Elsa, you promised."

"I don't feel well."

"You don't feel well?" Anna took Elsa by the hand, and leaned forward to look at her.

"You seem fine. Your hands are a little cold though."

"My hands are not cold," Elsa said indignantly, as she was just starting to not wear gloves.

"They are, Kristoff, feel Elsa's hands." Kristoff did not move and just smiled, showing Elsa a look that showed his exasperation how Anna was both kind-hearted and often strangely insensitive.

"Oh, nevermind, but you have to come Elsa."

"I think I'll stay in, you two have a good time," and saying this, she turned and went back into her room, closing the door. Anna was more quiet afterwards, as the two of them, and Sven, and three guards dressed plainly walked with them out of the castle gates down into the market streets where the festival was held. But like all people of her character, after seeing the lights, the singing, smelling the food being cooked and the laughter of young children and adults alike, soon returned to her usual cheerful and happy self.

**A/N**

**Please review/critique, etc. Sorry if I'm just jugging these chapters back and forth. I really want to get the right length for each chapter. There's all kinds of things to take into consideration like attention span, etc. If you have already read this and is reading it again, new chapters will be posted soon.**


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3.**

**Anna and Kristoff goes to the Festival.**

"This is delicious, oh and this, and this," Anna said with her mouthful of candied apple. She also had a wooden stick with grilled meat and corn on the cob in her other hand.

She smiled at Kristoff, who looked at her disapprovingly, and remembering her manners, closed her mouth, so that she looked like a chipmunk with large round cheeks.

"You are going to get sick," Kristoff warned her. Despite his serious face, his voice had a tone of laughter in it.

"This is just so amazing, look at all the lights, and the people..." Anna trailed off and walked in front of Kristoff, and the guards behind him. She spread her hands out and twirled, and the people walking around her looked at the girl they presumed was from out-of-town with happy expressions. The two guards also had food in their hands, but they didn't eat it, and seeing Kristoff running to catch up with Anna, also picked up their pace.

The streets were lit with tall posts with candles on top of them, and they gave off a soft and warm grow. There were plenty of different booths and shops opened, some for little wooden figurines, or for food, or for candles, but mostly for food.

Meanwhile, Sven was nearby playing with a group of small children. They were feeding him small pieces of candied apple. One sat on top of his head, and holding the piece of apple like a carrot on a stick, made Sven walk around in circles.

Anna and Kristoff walked along until they got to a small square, which three streets intersected, and in this middle part a group of adults and children sat facing a stage. There was no one on stage yet, and Anna, bent down to a small girl sitting down, asked what was the stage for.

"It's for a play," the little girl said. "The Ice Queen."

"The Ice Queen, that sounds interesting right?" Anna asked Kristoff.

"I suppose," he said, but he knew that Anna would want to stay and watch, given her natural childlike curiosity and since it was about her sister. And he was right, because when he turned to tell her if she wanted to get a blanket to sit on, he found Anna already talking to the little girl. He paid an old maid, who had a stack of blankets by the side a bit away from where everyone was sitting and bought a blanket for them to sit.

"I wonder who they are getting to play Elsa," Kristoff said.

People turned around at him when hearing this, surprised at how casually a common peasant had mentioned the queen's name. "I mean, the Queen," he quickly added.

"Shh," the little girl said, "it's about the start".

The guards, unfortunately, could only stand by the side of Anna and Kristoff, as they were not being paid to sit, and so now to look busy, glanced around.

Kristoff took Anna's small feminine hands into his, which were big and kind of coarse, and each of them felt the warmth of each other's hands were. And as Kristoff turned to perhaps give Anna a small kiss on the hand, he found that it suddenly turned dark, as those in charge of lighting for the play had blown out the light around the square. Now the only light source was coming from the candles burning by the side of the stage.

"It's starting," the little girl whispered.

Music started to play from the stage, which came from a small old man playing the violin in by the side of the stage, sharing the light of the candle to read the sheet music. It was a mellow tone, and then it suddenly jerked and became louder and filled with tension. A young woman with white hair ran on to the stage. She looked out of breath and she turned her head this way and that in something like terror.

"Queen Elsa," a voice called from behind the stage.

Anna turned and whispered to Kristoff, "I think we came late," and the little girl, hearing this, said quietly "it's the second half of the show."

"Prince Hans," the girl on stage said, "what do you want?" A man appeared on stage, wearing royal clothes, and had a sword in his hand.

"Queen Elsa, give me the throne. I want it and it will be mine."

"Never," the actress playing Elsa said, "Arendelle will never belong to an evil man like you."

"Never?" the Hans character asked, and then laughed comically and with exaggeration. He put his hands on his stomach and laughed harder, and then, laughing so hard, lost his balance and fell.

The crowd was delighted, and the little girl turned to look at Anna to see her reaction, wanting to see if this new friend she had just made shared in enjoying the same thing she did. Anna had a big smile on her face. The Hans character on stage stood up, then tripped again as he was trying to get up, and audience laughed even harder.

When he finally did stand proper, he pointed the sword at the girl on stage, and waved it threateningly at her.

"Queen Elsa, you are under arrest for the murder for Princess Anna."

"What?" the actress said, and here she showed her shock and disbelief in her tone.

"You froze her to death, and you are now under arrest."

"No, I didn't...I didn't," the actress stammered out.

Kristoff could feel that Anna was getting tense from this scene, and so he put his hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him in thanks, then giving his hand a light squeeze, turned back to watch the play.

The actress playing Elsa was now laying on the stage, in a show of grief, with her hands over her head in exaggerated mourning of the death of her sister. "Hans" lifted his sword into the air as to strike Elsa, and in that moment, another figure ran on the stage.

"Noo," cried that voice, which belonged, of course, to the actress playing Anna, who had just rushed on stage.

This is where the play differed from what had happened. Instead of turning to ice, the sheer shock of hearing Anna's voice was enough to frighten Hans into stumbling yet again. Kristoff would comment to Anna later that this change of narrative was because of their inability to do the freezing ice effects.

From Anna's perspective, the rest of the show went very quickly. The sisters embraced, Hans was taken away, and the city rejoiced in the magical powers of their queen. Then everyone clapped, the performers took a bow, and the stage turned dark again. The square was still mostly dark, and people were murmuring quietly and excitedly to each other as they do after a good show. Anna could catch bits of conversation here and there, and laughter too from some of the younger children.

The little girl looked at Anna with her innocence and naïvety.

"Wasn't that amazing?"

"It was," Anna nodded.

"When I grow up, I want to be just like Princess Anna," she said with a firm conviction.

Kristoff, opened his mouth, wanting to comment on the possibilities of that, being the social mobility of the times what they were, but then decided not to. He also smiled at the girl. Anna did not know what to say, but luckily, the little girl's mother had found them in the dark, and was now picking her up.

"I hope she hasn't caused you any trouble," the mother said to Anna, not seeing her face.

"It's no trouble, she was very nice."

"She's a dreamer," the mother said, and at this moment someone came and lit up the candle of their corner of the square, so now Anna's face was lit by the light. The mother lifted the little girl up so she could stand, and started dusting off the dust on the back of her pants.

"Oh look at you, getting dirty again, you really need to be careful where you sit down," and turning to Anna and speaking to her without looking at her at first, "anyways, it was really nice of you to look after her..."

"It's no trouble", Anna said.

With luck, Princess Anna managed to spent the entire night out on the town without being recognized. This, she thought, must have been because how she was never really out at all. The guard grew restless by the end, and near midnight when the moon was out, escorted Anna, Kristoff found Sven back to the castle.

At the gate, Kristoff kissed Anna's hand gently, then said goodnight, and Anna went back to the castle. The times being what they were, it was not proper for Kristoff to have stay in the castle at night.

**A/N**

**So chapter 4 will be a new chapter. I've already written it. Hope you enjoyed it. From now on, each chapter will have about 1 to 1.5k words. I plan to have at least 100k to 150k words at the end, so if you like long stories, and waiting...**


	4. Chapter 4

**(A/N. WOW, 24 HOURS, 6 FOLLOWERS? That's pretty awesome. For you, my six followers, i will write a story worth you following me for. For everyone else, well, I do it for you too. Those that only read the first chapter and move on, are missing out.)**

**CHAPTER 4.**

**Elsa's breathing exercise. Anna reflects on her night out.**

*** ELSA**

During the entire time of Anna was out, Elsa was fighting an inner battle of whether she had made the right choice in not going with them.

I didn't want to go because I didn't want to get between her and Kristoff.

But you also were going to feel these terrible things at them being so close to each other.

It's not right to feel like that, she's my sister, I should feel happy for her.

I'm happy for her, it's just I don't want to be around them all the time.

You aren't wanted there.

Stop putting yourself down, she thought to herself.

There were times when she was perceiving her thoughts with clarity. But other times, she felt herself a kind of small wooden ship in a storm of her thoughts that were her own but could not be controlled.

I have my sister.

Alone, without love, without warmth.

Will Anna leave me and live with Kristoff somewhere else?

What if?

Elsa was at the point where she did not believe there could be anything but despair for the rest of her life. She tried her best to pull herself out of her thoughts, which was not an easy task. In these moments, she found she had a swelling feeling in her chest, as if she was going to cry.

Stop thinking those thoughts.

You will never find anyone.

Stop it. Stop it. Stop it.

Elsa slowly regained control, and focusing only on that swelling feeling in her solar plexus, found it almost pleasant. That sensation she was now experiencing was what made having a good cry therapeutic, although Elsa did not cry.

Okay, now just focus your breathing.

Elsa did this, and after a while, felt better, and finally stopping just as she heard the castle door open downstairs.

"No thank you," Elsa strained herself to say.

Then there was a thud.

"Be careful your highness, are you alright?"

"It's the door's fault, they should get it fixed," Elsa heard Anna say angrily.

Elsa had a little good-natured laugh at her sister's expense.

And with that, she got herself ready for bed, and did not say anything more when Anna came by the door quite gently, quite a bit later, to bid Elsa goodnight, except to say a quiet "goodnight".

She was awake in bed for a long time, and felt good after her breathing exercise.

She let out a single snowflake from the palm of her hand. It was lighter than air, and was as clear as the moment felt for Elsa.

Then she watched the snowflake slowly disappear as it floated up to the ceiling, and soon, found herself lost in a hopeful dream.

*** ANNA**

Anna sat down a long time on her bed, looking at some of the older paintings she had on her dresser of her parents. She had a great night with Kristoff, and when he kissed her hand she felt a jolt of electricity shot up her spine.

In the case of optimistic people, it wasn't that they weren't negative, but that they choose to dwell only on the positive. Anna knew there were problems with her and Kristoff, things she was now growing conscious, things like how she was a princess and Kristoff was a commoner.

But these problems were at once both irritating and exciting for Anna. She was afraid about how she could not be with Kristoff because of that, but also, this made being around him so much more exciting, and almost dangerous and rebellious. And this was funny because Kristoff was so the opposite of dangerous, but none-the-less, that was how she felt about it.

These brief moments of doubt and insecurity mixed into Anna's happy state of mind made the moment only more memorable to her.

Anna sighed with a kind of resignation to her feelings, she could not think about anything else, and changed into her night-clothes and went under the covers of her bed. And here, away from the eyes of everyone else, she was no longer that adorable and dorky girl, but a young woman in love.

Love?

Perhaps that's not the right word for it.

Not yet.

Then she thought about Elsa, and her stomach churned unpleasantly.

Why was Elsa still shutting them out?

And really, she's getting better after what had happened.

It's the queen duties, Anna thought. She's too stressed about because of them.

But then Anna had an idea. It was sudden and quick as it came into her mind, and she knew immediately that it was the right thing to do.

I will go and spend the day with my sister tomorrow.

If she lets me.

She will!

Anna didn't think that exactly, because she was both thinking with words, but also could see herself and Elsa sitting in the hall with faces looking up at them, and hear the noise of overlapping voices. Already in her usual enthusiasm, she was imagining how she would make Elsa more happy again.

**A/N**

**I wonder if Anna is getting OOC. Maybe I'll have her do something embarrassing. Anyways, thanks for reading.**


	5. Chapter 5

**(A/N. If I bump this too much, it's because I see that my updates don't get shown. So that's what happened last time. But I usually wait at least like half a day. I apologize for that)**

**CHAPTER 5.**

**Elsa eats breakfast with Anna. Anna watches Elsa in court.  
**

*** ELSA**

Once a week, the common people get up early to go and wait at the gates of the castle to see Queen Elsa. They come to tell her their troubles, their issues, or perhaps an injustice done onto them by someone that could not be resolved.

It was the day after the Harvest Festival, and the people of Arendelle were sleeping in late on their rest day, so the line up at the gates was particularly long. The paradox here was that everyone thought everyone else would be sleeping in.

Elsa was a light sleeper, and after waking early, went and got dressed in a royal robe. It was white, and Elsa had altered it herself, but keeping the regal and reserved style.

Then she sat down on her desk and using her hand mirror, brushed her long silver hair. Finishing that, she went downstairs early to breakfast.

Elsa sat on a long fur sofa in a drawing room down the hall from the dining room, and opened up one of her books she liked to read.

A couple of minutes later, a head appeared at the door.

"Breakfast is ready, your majesty. And your sister is already waiting in the dining room" a maid said to Elsa.

Elsa was a little surprised, but nodded, and walked down the hall to the living room to eat.

*** ANNA**

Anna woke up at the break of dawn hoping to catch Elsa and have breakfast with her. Anna was always sleeping in when Elsa ate breakfast. But now she finally woke before Elsa and waited for her at the dining room table. Elsa sat down. Two servants bought them their breakfast.

"How was the festival?" Elsa asked, as she buttered a piece of bread.

"Oh, it was great, there was so much food, really good food, and there was even play, the Ice Queen," Anna said with her mouth full of food. In her excitement she choked on a piece of something and started to cough.

"Anna," Elsa said, in a tone that would have been cheerful if it wasn't so early. "Be careful."

"I'm sorry," Anna said, then spoke again with the same energy after recovering herself. "It was called the Ice Queen, and there was Hans, he was a real idiot, he kept falling all over the place, and the girl that played me was really good. You should have came with us."

"Maybe next time," Elsa said. There was a silence after this. Elsa was unsure why Anna, who had been so energetic moments before, was now quiet. Usually this meant Anna had a question she wanted to ask.

"Elsa?"

"Yeah?"

Anna had her hands together in front of her like a little child wanting something she knew she shouldn't ask for.

"Can I come and watch?"

"You want to come and watch?"

"Yes," Anna nodded with enthusiasm as Elsa did not immediately say no. "I think it would be great. You are always helping the people, I'm just doing nothing all day, Kristoff wouldn't mind."

"Are you sure you don't want to be with Kristoff, you know he's leaving in a couple of days," Elsa said.

"I know, it's okay. I'll have him over for dinner. But please Elsa."

And so Elsa agreed. Anna, after breakfast, went upstairs and got dressed in proper clothes, and then went to the wing of the castle by the church, where Elsa was already sitting on her throne. Around her were several guards, standing at attention in their full uniforms and holding spears.

The common people walked in and sit in rows and rows of wooden benches, like the ones at church. They looked up at Elsa with admiring and kind eyes, and then at Anna.

*** ANNA  
**

Slowly each person that came to see Elsa got up when it was their turn to say what they had to say. Anna watched her sister and was amazed at how still and attentive she looked, while she herself was getting restless.

"Thank you, your majesty," an old maid said to Elsa, after explaining about her situation with her son, who was wronged accused to stealing a chicken and was now sitting in jail.

Elsa had told her she would look into it. She made a gesture to a man sitting to her right, who sat next to a much older man with a very large book. If Anna remembered , the man's name was Aleksander. The governor sent him to Elsa to assist in note taking and other paper work.

The next in line was a young mother with a small baby sucking his thumb.

"Your majesty, my husband died two years ago, and since then I've been taking care of little Georg on my own..." the mother said with a calm and gentle voice.

Anna turned to look at Elsa, who had the same expression throughout the proceedings. It was not indifference on her face, but a kind of impenetrability. Anna didn't know what she was feeling.

"Go on," Elsa said quietly.

"Things are tough with me and little Georg. We were lucky to get a place to rent, but now our landlord wants to kick us out. He says he cries too much at night. But little Georg never cries. He's just saying that so we would beg him to stay and he'll say that only if we would pay more. He wants 10 copper pieces extra a month! I work as a seamstress for sixteen hours a day," and at this point she used one hand to hold Georg and showed the court her other bruised and near mutilated worn out hand.

"We barely have enough to eat, your majesty, please help us," and the mother finished talking and bent her head down.

The little boy, Georg, oblivious to what was happening, looked back up at her, wondering why her mother had suddenly lost heart.

When Anna saw that Elsa was still thinking about it, and hadn't said anything, she stood up and said, "that's not right."

"Anna," Elsa said.

"It's not right, it's not right. That landlord can't do that."

"Anna," Elsa said again. "Please."

The crowd of common people still left sitting started to murmur loudly. Elsa looked to one of the guards. The guards, all having spears in their hands, began to bang the lower end on the floor in unison, and this sound quieted the talking masses.

Anna sat down. Her face was red, both with anger, and the sense of injustice at how anyone could treat that poor mother so horribly. But perhaps her sister was right, she thought. It was rash of her to have done that.

"My sister is right," Elsa then said slowly and deliberately. "A landlord has no right to increase rent by more than a certain amount every year."

She then looked to an old man sitting by Aleksander.

"5 copper pieces a month, your majesty," the old man said.

"Right. Aleksander, he'll record the name of your landlord and address. I'll have someone deal with it, and until then, tell him that under no circumstances is he allowed to evict you or increase you rent. Tell him I said so," Elsa said.

In the back of Elsa's throne chair, Anna saw a thin sheet of frost, which happens when Elsa was emotionally worked up. But there was nothing in Elsa's tone to suggest that she was at all moved by the story of the poor woman. Anna now she saw that Elsa was really just as affected by the problems of those people as she was herself, except she hid it better.

There was a firm clatter of applause after every person, and then the next in line stood up.

Anna did not find the rest of them very interesting. Some wrote songs to Elsa, hoping she would reward them with money and honors, Elsa never did. Then there were the petitions by the wealthy and merchant classes. Anna never liked them.

However, the very last one was interesting.

By then, it was late in the afternoon, and Anna had been sitting except for the three short breaks. The people were getting restless, as they themselves had finished what they came to do, but had to wait for everyone was finished to leave, because it would be disrespectful otherwise to the queen.

"Your majesty," a muscular but rather short young man said. "I'm from the village of Karsgard, two days here on foot. We want to tell you about the wonderful harvest we're about to have."

Hearing this, there was a pleasant and upbeat murmuring, which the guards silenced again by banging on their spears.

"However," he said with a practiced tone. "we are afraid we won't be able to store it properly for the winter. So we would like to ask your majesty to give us some ice to help store our harvest for the winter, and we would gladly double our annual contribution of grain and goods."

Elsa, thinking about it for a quick second, then smiled for the first time that entire afternoon. It was a tired smile of satisfaction at a simple and straightforward request after a long and difficult day's work.

"Done," she said. "Someone will bring the ice over by the end of the week. Give the details to Aleksander."

After doing this, he went back to where he stood and bowed again. Everyone stood up and clapped loudly this time. Elsa acknowledged the applause, and got up and left the court. As she did this, Anna met her eyes and received a small but warm smile.

**A/N**

**You feel like this is fluff, but maybe one day down the road you will find that it's not. Anyways, more to come. thanks for reading.  
**


	6. Chapter 6

*** A/N**

**Hi guys, thanks for sticking with me so far. I'm so glad so many people followed. No reviews though, which means I don't know what you want to read more of, or what you want me to fix. I'll make you a deal, if you give me ONE review, ONE, and I'll post two chapters tomorrow. **

**In any case, I'll spend the weekend writing enough to have chapters to post all of next week and more.**

**Please remember to follow, review, whatever. I know there are people reading, so I can only assume they like it. **

**p.s. if you get two updates, it's because i post it and it doesn't show for some reason. so i wait like 12 hours and do it again. sorry for that.**

**Anyways, enjoy. **

*** end note**

**CHAPTER 6.**

**Elsa eats dinner with her sister. Anna intrudes at a bad time.  
**

*** ANNA**

Anna was second to leave after Elsa. It was only then were everyone else allowed to leave. As she left the hall, one of the maids bowed to her, and Anna told her to get Kristoff. Kristoff stayed at a little place in the city. Elsa had paid it for him.

She found Elsa coming down the stairs, as just as she was able to go up herself to her room.

"Hey," Elsa said.

"Hey."

"I'm having dinner now, do you want some?"

"Um, yeah. Sure," Anna replied. She was going to eat dinner with Kristoff later when he came, but since her sister had asked, she couldn't say no.

They walked down the hall to the dining room. Not the grand dining room, but a smaller one, with comfortable chairs.

"Your majesty, your highness," the maids that passed them said, stopping what they were doing and bowing.

Anna took a seat, and Elsa sat at the head of the table.

Elsa looked at her sister inquiringly, as Anna was not meeting her eyes and was acting awkwardly.

"What is it?" Elsa asked.

"What, nothing. I was just."

Elsa leaned in closer towards Anna.

"What is it?"

"I thought I could have been more helpful today."

Elsa's face changed, and Anna could see how much tension she had after the day.

"You were fine," Elsa said. "I wish I could be more helpful."

"But you are! You're granting favors, and helping the poor in need," Anna said indignantly, as if somehow it was okay for her to think of herself as being unhelpful, but that it was inconceivable for Elsa to think of herself in the same way.

"I mean, Anna, even as queen, you can't do everything. Even with my powers..." And saying this, Elsa looked down at her ungloved and delicate hands.

Anna, in that moment, was almost at a loss. Her eyes were downcast after hearing her sisters words. For a person of a such bubbly personality, hearing about how her sister, being both the queen and having such amazing powers, could not help everyone and everything, was almost too much.

So in a moment very uncharacteristic of Anna, she did not try to say anything, or to frame what her sister had said more positively.

Elsa, seeing this, reached out her hand and touched Anna's arm. Her hands were still slightly cold, but Anna found a warmth hidden beneath it, so that it felt more like a hand that had been outside in the cold, instead of just a cold hand.

"But I'll do my best," Elsa said.

Anna lifted up her eyes, and seeing how concerned her sister was looking at her, could no longer be upset. A change went over her, and as if she had waited for Elsa to say those words, immediately grew more animated.

"You're already doing great," she said. "And I'm here too. I'm helping, I guess. Well, I am. But you know."

Elsa smiled. "You are," she said. "I was glad you came today. It's usually very tiring by myself."

Now they were both more relaxed. Anna, having found she broke some invisible barrier to get to Elsa, was now her usual self again.

"It must be. I was getting sick of all that sitting. Those things are really uncomfortable for my butt."

"You should try sitting in the throne chair."

"Maybe I will one day," Anna said.

They both laughed. Elsa, with her good manners, covered her lips to her hand in a lady-like fashion. Anna did no such thing and did not restrain herself in expressing her genuine and happy emotion.

"Oh, I have a great idea," she said.

"What is it," Elsa asked.

"We have so much stuff," and she gestured at all the antiques, suit of armors, and fine luxury things that filled even that, smaller, dining room. "Why don't we sell some of it, and then give that money to those that need it."

Elsa was thoughtful and hesitate.

"Come on, Elsa. It will be great. We don't need it," Anna said.

"But Anna," Elsa started.

"Come on, Elsa. Please, no one will miss it. We'll just sell the things no one ever uses."

And Elsa, being transported to another state of mind in that moment of shared happiness with her sister, agreed.

"Oh great, I can't wait. It's going to be so good. We'll raise so much money. We can help out that poor lady with the evil landlord. I bet that he looks just like Weselton."

Elsa smiled and watched her sisters delight. Though in her mind she made a note to check and not sell anything that had any traces of her mother and father's memories.

"Your majesty," a butler said from the threshold. "Your highness, dinner is ready."

"Yes, thank you, bring it in," Elsa said.

Two servants brought two plates with covers came in.

"You are seeing Kristoff after dinner," Elsa said.

"Kristoff is coming over. He's leaving for his deliveries the day after tomorrow."

"Right. It's his first trip as ice master."

Anna nodded happily, and took off the dome over her plate. It was the first course of three more to come later. Despite telling herself earlier to wait until Kristoff arrived to eat, Anna ate dinner with her sister.

***ELSA**

An hour after dinner, Elsa had a hot bath drawn up for her. Submerged in the water, she breathed deeply to relax herself. The positive after effects of her conversation with Anna had passed, and now Elsa was in need of some alone time to recharge.

It had been a tough day.

Sometimes she still thought about running away, but she couldn't now. She couldn't put Anna thought all that again. And besides, she was queen now, with responsibilities, and people counted on her.

After a while, those deep and serious thoughts went away.

She made a little ice-cube, and placed it on the back of one hand above the water, then sunk her other hand down into the water, and observed the curious sensation of her hands.

One hand felt hot, and one hand felt cold. In fact, the two sensations should almost the same with a high enough contrast, when scolding hot turned felt sharp and almost icy cold.

But for Elsa, she never felt cold. For her, cold was an indescribable normal.

Elsa was growing drowsy and falling asleep in her comfortable wooden bath tube, until she heard alarmingly loud footsteps.

"Elsa, Elsa."

It was Anna calling.

"She's in there, your highness," the maid that had drawn Elsa the bath said from outside the door.

Suddenly the door burst open, and Anna was standing at the threshold, breathless from running, holding up a piece of paper.

"Your highness, the door," the maid said, putting her mouth to her hand.

"Anna," Elsa said, "what are you doing?" and she struggled to hide herself under water.

Anna held the paper up to Elsa to see. It was a paper poster of some show.

"What is this?"

"It's the trope that did the Ice Queen, they're leaving next week and there's another show before then, we have to go!"

"Anna, I'm taking a bath." Elsa was growing red. This was not befitting of a queen.

"How about it?" Anna said bright eyes and a big smile.

"Anna, let me get dressed first," Elsa pleaded with her sister.

"Promise?"

"Promise, no. I didn't say that. Anna, let me get dressed first."

"So you promise? Kristoff will be gone by then, so it's just the two of us. Oh, come on , come on, come on, Elsa."

Anna's smile grew wider as she stared at her sister. Seeing that Elsa was not going to object anymore out of embarrassment of her situation, she ran off. The maid looked very apologetically at Elsa, and bowing low, tried to close the door as best she could.

Elsa was left in her tub, which was now starting to get lukewarm.

Going to a show as the queen? Or maybe she could get away with disguising herself as a commoner.

A part of Elsa thought it would be fun and wonderful, and she could already imagine how everyone that would attend the show would react to seeing the queen watching it with them.

*** A/N**

**Why are medieval doors so bad? I don't know. Anyways, there are lots of maids now at the castle. I don't want to give them names. Should they have names?**

**Also if you ask why the plot is moving so slowly. Well, let's just say this is going to be a long story. Again, if you like the story, please review/follow/favorite, your attention feeds my writing.**


	7. Chapter 7

*** A/N **

**Hi guys, thanks the reviews. Glad to see what you liked/didn't like. So, as promised, double feature today. I think this is actually a better format, because the chapters earlier are cutting things off too short.**

**to my reviewers:**

**some of the things in chapter 5 are going to come up against in chapter 8 and from then on**

**elsa leaving the castle as queen would be a huge affair, but i think she wouldn't want all that attention, even if she likes to think about it.**

**I think I should move the updates to maybe a couple of times a week. So I can get a chance to edit better and give you guys better quality stuff, as well as to take a break. Don't want to overwhelm you guys.**

**Chapter 8 will be about Elsa and Anna going to see the Ice Queen play. **

*** end note.**

**Chapter 7.**

** Anna convinces her sister to leave the castle. Elsa helps the ice cutters. Anna promises Kristoff a surprise.  
**

*** ANNA**

The maids still had not finished fixing the door Anna broke down. The reason for this was that somehow Anna had applied force, by pushing it, at such a strange angle that the hinge came loose. And so, while Anna was walking down the corridor from her room, she could see two maids and a butler working on fixing it.

I wonder what happened to that door.

Oh wait. I did that didn't I?

Yeah, I guess I did.

Anna's absent-mindedness was from trying to decide whether she should do something. That thing being whether to knock on Elsa's door or not. This was not just some ordinary thing, Anna had always avoided trying to get to Elsa when she was in her room.

She stopped outside the door, standing in the hallway, and argued with herself.

What if she doesn't want to be bothered.

I don't think she's like that anymore.

You never know.

The two sides of her mind traded arguments back and forth.

"Your highness?"

Anna turned around and saw a maid looking at her.

"Yes, um, is the queen in there?" Anna said.

"Yes your highness."

"Is she, um, asleep?" and here she hoped for a cop-out. She couldn't possibly be allowed to disrupt the queen if she was taking a nap.

"No, your highness, (Anna's heart sank in disappointment) the queen just came upstairs a few minutes ago."

"Oh, alright, thank you," Anna said, but the maid still stood there. Perhaps she thought Princess Anna was going to try something funny.

"Thank you," Anna said again, and this time the maid hurried off.

Anna was feeling bold. She took a breath, held it in, and knocked on the door twice, gently.

"Come in," Elsa said from inside.

Anna peeked into the room. Elsa was standing and facing a window.

"Hi Elsa," Anna said in a business tone. She was unsure of what was going to happen here. She hasn't been inside Elsa's room for so many years.

It was a little cold, Anna thought.

"Come in, what's the matter?"

Anna saw that Elsa was not upset, or withdrawn, but she was still hesitant.

"Well, Kristoff is leaving tomorrow, and I was wondering if you want to come and wish him a good trip with me."

"Oh," Elsa said. She sounded almost disappointed. "Alright. But I thought he's not leaving until tomorrow morning."

"Early tomorrow morning, and I'll never get up on time to see him," Anna said in a disappointed and childish way.

Elsa gave a small laugh, "Where is he?"

"I want to go get him from his place."

"Outside the gates?"

"Yeah. We can take a couple of guards," Anna suggested.

Anna watched her sister's face harden for a split second, and then soften again.

"Alright, let's go."

*** ELSA**

For Elsa, having spent her entire life hiding her powers from others, it seemed dangerous and nerve wrecking to go out in broad day light, to the streets filled with people who knew about her powers.

It's irrational to be afraid, Elsa thought. I don't have to hide who I'm anymore.

But at the same time, Elsa did make sure hide her hair with a hat and to dress modestly, in the sense that she wore the clothes fitting of a merchant's daughter. That was Elsa's condition, for them both to at least try to not get noticed. Anna did too, although she was a little sour about it.

"Elsa, isn't it wonderful outside, out of the castle? We should do this everyday," and Anna spread out her arms, as if to embrace the world, while keeping her face towards the sun.

"Oh Anna," Elsa said quietly.

They had taken the servant's gate out of the castle, and now walked through a quiet district, mostly filled with shops for the middle and upper class citizens. Anna browsed through the shops and glanced at what was on sale.

She's so carefree, Elsa thought.

Why are you angry at Anna, she asked herself.

No, Elsa was not upset at Anna. She was upset at herself for not being able to share in Anna's joy of life.

Maybe if you got out of the castle more often, she thought.

Fine. I'll try harder to get out of the castle more.

As Anna was window shopping, Elsa kept looking at her own hands, this made her feel alert, and a bit self-conscious.

Breathe though it, she told herself.

After Elsa had calmed down more, she saw Anna was still looking around.

"Come on Anna," she said. "We're going to see Kristoff, remember?"

"Oh, Kristoff, yeah. Right."

She's so in the moment, that she even forgot about going to see Kristoff. Why can't I be like that, Elsa thought.

But at the same time, she knew, somehow, that she couldn't be like that, ever.

The two sisters and the guards walked down the cobble stone road that led from shops to more shops. Elsa had never been to see Kristoff, so she didn't know where he lived, even if she had paid for the place.

Meanwhile, the common people who had to work for a living were busy working. There were artisans hanging their paintings or colored carpets out to dry. Laundry women hard at work, with crowds of little children by their side. Shop keepers going here and there, rearranging and restocking their goods.

Three young boys were running on the road, and one nearly bumped into Anna, who was ahead of Elsa and the guards.

"Oh, be careful!" Anna said.

"Sorry."

"Hello there, my lady," one of them said.

"You're so pretty."

"Boys come back here, don't let those ladies think you are little thieves," a laundry woman called at them, and the boys hurried along.

As they walked they occasionally drew curious glances. To cover this, the guards had to pretend to make conversation with each other, even when they were escorting the queen.

"How was your mother lately, you wrote to her?" one guard dressed like a commoner asked another.

"Don't ask me about that now, we're in front of the queen," he said. "I'm sorry your majesty," he added in a whisper and half bow to Elsa.

Elsa only smiled absent-mindedly.

"I know you didn't to her. You rascal, why you treat your mother like that. If my mother was still alive..."

"I did write to her. She's been scared half to death. Her neighbor was robbed. She's been terribly afraid. I'm sorry your majesty," the guard also apologized to her.

"No, it's alright," Elsa said.

Seeing that the queen was quite lenient and kind, the two guards drew a bit further ahead of her.

"Did they take anything?" the guard asked with concern.

"Yes. They stole what jewelery she had and all of her food. I don't know what's going on. The captain said..."

Why haven't I heard of this, Elsa thought to herself. I will have to ask the governor about this when I see him again.

"What did the guard captain say?"

"He told me to keep it-"

"KRISTOFF!"

And at point, Anna, who was now so far ahead of Elsa and the guards that she had arrived outside Kristoff's place before they did, and starting yelling up at him. Kristoff lived in one of the rooms that were on top of a bakery.

"KRISTOFF, IT'S ME. GET DOWN HERE."

The owner of the bakery came out, and saw the source of the noise. Elsa and the guards got close enough to hear the bakery owner talk.

"Young lady, you are scaring away my customers."

"Sorry," Anna said with an apologetic smile. "I didn't mean it. I was just calling someone..."

The man went back inside.

If only everyone was like you Anna, Elsa thought.

*** ELSA**

Anna and Kristoff spent the afternoon out in Arendelle while Elsa decided to go back to the castle early. The next morning, at the break of dawn, Elsa woke up and got ready to go downstairs to the courtyard.

Since revealing her powers, the ice cutters that sold ice no longer had to cut the ice. Instead Elsa created it, and they were now mostly involved in delivering and selling.

They were all ready and waiting for her when she stepped out of the threshold of the castle.

"Your majesty," one of the maids said rushing to drape a heavy blanket over her.

"Thank you," Elsa said gratefully, although she was not effected by the cold at all.

The ice cutters were all talking to one another. They formed small groups of three or four, while a couple of others were by their sleds, tugging at their harnesses, or looking through their supplies.

A bit away from where the ice cutters were, Aleksander, who lived in another part of the castle, was checking off things on a list with Kristoff and a couple of older ice cutters around him.

They all fell silent when they say Elsa approach.

"Your majesty," they all said and bowed.

The morning air was good for Elsa, and she smiled gracefully.

"Thank you. Are you all ready?"

"We are ready, your majesty," Kristoff said formally.

Elsa remembered an earlier conversation. She turned to Aleksander.

"Did you include that village that needed ice."

"Yes, your majesty," Aleksander said.

"When are you going to be back?" Elsa asked Kristoff.

"About two weeks, at most."

Elsa thought for a bit, she was still a bit sleepy. And now she saw that she did not have anymore questions.

"Well, I wish you all a good and safe trip."

"Thank you your majesty," Kristoff said, and then everyone bowed again.

"Be careful," she said to Kristoff specifically.

Elsa then turned to the thirty of so empty sleds waiting beside them. She waved her hand in that direction, and then, to the amazement of everyone but her, the sleds were filled with ice. Perfectly cut, large blocks of ice, stacked and ready for delivery.

"I hope everything goes well," Elsa said again, and not giving them a chance to say anything about her powers, she turned to go back to the castle.

Although she could not see it, everyone in the court-yard bowed low for her until she was in the castle, and the door had closed behind her.

*** ANNA**

The day before, after Elsa had went back to the castle, Kristoff and Anna had spent a nice quiet afternoon out on the town with a couple of guards. They bought some food, there wasn't much for sale, and then went to eat it by the fjord. It was beautiful with the sun shining down and making light patterns with the almost smooth surface of the water. In that moment, everything looked magical, but living it, Anna could not enjoy it fully as she wanted to.

Kristoff, knowing how Anna was empathetic, tried to be cheerful in the hopes of making her happier.

"You know, I'm going to bring you back something special."

"Are you?"

"Yes, but I can't tell you what it is. I already know though, you are going to love it."

"That's nice," and betraying herself, "I wish you didn't have to go. I mean, you don't HAVE to go, you are the chief ice deliverer, you can just delegate. Come on, Elsa won't know. She would never demote you, I would get mad at her for doing that."

Anna used her charm, and looked up imploringly at Kristoff. From his point of view, he saw, first her big blue eyes, and then second, the glistening water of the fjords in the background. Looking into her eyes, he found they led, not to her soul, but somehow into his own instead.

"Anna I can't do that. Elsa gave me a job. She made it up for me, just so I could do something," Kristoff said.

There was a chance for this orphan boy to prove himself, and Kristoff could not say no.

"Alright then," Anna said. It had been a silly idea, anyways, she thought. "Say, where is Sven?"

"He's with the horses, they got a barn down by the guard barracks where the other ice cutters are staying."

"That sounds nice."

"It is, he's got friends there now. They get fed a lot too, the guards there really like having them around. I'm going to get him tomorrow morning."

"That's when your leaving."

"Yeah," Kristoff said, and he sounded sad as well.

Later that day, when the sun was going down, and the night chill showed it was no longer quite summer anymore, they got up and went back to the castle.

On their way, the guards were behind them, having spent the a very easy day of guarding the royals.

"Are you going to tell me what you are bringing me back?"

"It's a surprise," Kristoff said.

"I love surprises," Anna said in anticipation, but then, "I just don't like them when they are down the road."

"Well, you will just have to wait for it."

They bantered on and off, and as usual Anna's cheerful and infectious joy mixed with Kristoff's grounded and realist tones. When they got to the gate, it opened, and the guards waited for Anna to say goodbye to Kristoff before handing you.

"Go ahead, I'll be a bit," Anna said.

"Yes, your highness," and the guards went in first, and waited there.

"What is it?"

"I have a gift for you too when you come back," Anna said. There was something funny in her voice, and her usual innocent awkwardness was gone. Kristoff sensed this, and he did not know what to say.

"Well, what is it?"

Then Anna, standing on her heels, leaned in and kissed Kristoff, not on the lips, but on the cheek.

"You'll find out when you get back."

And with that, Anna went inside, and the gates closed on a surprised but pleased Kristoff.

**A/N**

**Alright, so why haven't Anna and Elsa gotten caught for sneaking out? Well, most people don't have a picture of their royalty.**

**Also Elsa is still quite shy, that's why she never leaves the castle. Baby steps.**

**Next chapter in a couple of days at most. Thanks for reading! Don't forget to follow and review and stuff if you can :D  
**


	8. Chapter 8

***A/N **

**Yes it has been so long, I'm so sorry, but here it is. Please remember to review, follow, etc. **

**CHAPTER 8.**

**Elsa and Anna goes to see a play. Anna has a vivid dream.  
**

*** ELSA**

The Ice Queen, a play performed by the theatre trope Anna and Kristoff went to see, was talked about so much after the Harvest Festival, that the last performance was moved to the grand market square. Everyone who was anyone in Arendelle was going.

Knowing this, Elsa was anxious, and she finally did succeed to convince Anna to not go to the play officially. Instead, they would be sneaking out to see it, alone, and without guards.

Although Arendelle did not have much of a nobility, there were certainly plenty of wealth merchants, land owners, and shop keepers. They made up the aristocracy, and Elsa did not particularly like them, given that every time she held court, they would come and then try to get Elsa to grant them tax breaks or other favors.

If I were to go there as queen, they would come up all over me and ask me for this and that.

This thought made her shudder. But at the same time, she was disappointed, as she had spent a bit of time imagining the kind of reception she would receive if she did go.

Elsa was in her room, trying on some peasant garb one of the maids had got for her outside of the castle. It was plain, and coarse material that poked and irritated her bare skin. Her hair was braided, and then tied into a bun. Again, the maid, a common girl herself, helped Elsa with it. To top off everything, she would wear a farmer's hat.

At the bottom of the stairs, Elsa met Anna, who was dressed in the same way. Except Anna, whose hair color was not so unique, had no hat.

"Are you ready?" Elsa asked.

"Oh, yes, this is going to be so amazing. I," Anna said with a big smile, and her skin had a very healthy grow to it, "cannot believe you are actually doing this. I mean, I thought we would go as queen and princess, and then there would be this big thing, but actually we're sneaking out of the castl-"

"Shh. Not so loud," Elsa said. She had already found she was feeling a most interesting and delightful thrill in spite of herself.

Together the two sisters made their way to the right wing of the castle. They walked quietly and slowly, and was lucky enough to not see anyone, as then they would have been easily recognized, and guards would be placed to follow them out of the castle.

"It's clear," Anna said with girlish mischief, peeking around a corner.

They turned the corner, and then, hearing footsteps, tried to hide, very crudely, behind two pieces of armor.

It was Aleksander the scribe, dressed in a neat black robe that fitted his slight build and carrying a book which he was reading. He paused when he saw the two of them, and then opening his mouth to reprimand the two maids, realized who they were.

"Your majesty, your highness," he said.

"Oh, it's only you," Anna signed with relief. "Thank goodness, I thought we were going to have to make a run for it Elsa."

They got out from behind the suit of armor.

"Aleksander. You are still working," Elsa said in disbelief.

Aleksander, with his pale face, frowned at her slightly. This was not a disrespectful gesture though.

"There's the case of the old woman and her rent you asked me to work on, your majesty. I've had someone go check out the place. Then there's the landlord Frans, whom you said could not pay taxes because how his farm lands were ruined by pests. Now I'm getting a letter saying he's lying and his farm lands are actually fine. Then there's..."

Elsa was carried away by her youth and the novel experience of rule breaking to listen.

"Alright, you keep working," Elsa said, in a rare moment of slipping her mature and regal composure, and showed that she was still a young woman.

"The governor would be very upset if I did anything but. Should I ask what your majesty is doing wearing peasant clothing?"

"No," Anna laughed, then grabbing Elsa's hand, the two of them skipped down the hall, almost forgetting their need to be quiet.

After him, no one paid them much attention. Either it was that they simply could not conceive why the queen and princess would want to dress up like peasant women. Or maybe it was that they were too busy working.

*** ANNA**

Anna was inconceivably happy to have Elsa with her, out of the castle, and for the first time, without guards. It was not the same as the last time Anna and Elsa left the castle to get Kristoff. They were free, free to sing at the top of their lungs and for those around to only think of them as happy peasant girls after a day's work.

The air was clean and crisp, and the sun had started to come down. Anna walked with Elsa out on the town, and seeing all the people going about their business.

This is so nice, Anna thought, and sighed.

"What's wrong?" Elsa asked.

"Nothing. This is just so wonderful. I've always imagined we would be like this, out of the castle, and without guards too."

"Me too," Elsa said with a sincere expression of joy. "It's nice to see Arendelle like this."

They walked along the road and towards the marketplace. Anna tried her best to describe to Elsa what she had missed at the Harvest Festival, pointing into thin air where the booths had been that sold the best candied apple. They lost a lot of time doing this, and when they finally arrived at the grand market square, which was in the middle of the market district, it was almost dark.

It was very packed, and already the people waiting were restless for the show. Just like the Harvest Festival, there were lights at the edges of the square set up. And again, there were people who sold blankets to sit on, as the ground of the square was dusty. Anna and Elsa bought a blanket for themselves, and then found a spot in the square that was not too close to the front.

The front was filled with wooden chairs, and those you had to pay for. There was a higher chance of Elsa and Anna being recognized the closer to sat that way. But none the less, the view was not at all bad, and the spirit of the common people were very hardy and strong. The people that couldn't afford chairs, sitting on blankets or in the dirt, talked and laughed, and Elsa and Anna could not help but also be in high spirits around them.

"Isn't this exciting? You are going to love it, I promise." Anna said. Then, with the same energy but in a lower voice, "the girl who plays me is so good." Anna clinched her fists together in excitement.

Elsa only nodded, but her joy was undeniable.

Then the fires that was keeping the darkness away from the square were blown out, and so the only light source was coming from the stage. A mosquito buzzed nearby, and Anna, upset at it for ruining the serenity of the moment, slapped in the direction of the sound.

"Ow, Anna, my face," Elsa said.

"I'm so sorry, are you alright," and Anna tried to rub her sister's cheek to ease the pain.

Elsa, half laughing, half crying in pain, reassured her.

Because of the largess of the event, the owner of the theatre trope came on stage and introduced those that supported and paid for the use of the square.

A tall man of middle age came on stage with a boy. Even from that direction, Anna saw he had a handsome and mature face.

"That's Henrik Kogland, he owns half the market distinct," a mother whispered to a little girl sitting beside Anna on another blanket.

"And who's the boy, mama?"

"His son. Bless them, his wife died in childbirth," the mother explained, seeing how both Anna and Elsa were leaning in to listen. "Very rich, and very nice, he runs an orphanage too."

Then a few more people came on stage. The mother knew most of their names. Anna kept hearing things like , "Erna Krudsen, she owns half of..." and " Perr Nordli, he is practically the...".

At last, the governor of the city came on stage. Anna nudged at Elsa, who was playing with and fixing a button on her blouse.

"It's the governor," she whispered.

People muttered and spoke to each other in hush tones when they saw the governor, and Anna saw his applause was much more scattered and less enthusiastic than all the rest.

"Do people not like the governor very much?" Anna said, leaning over to the other blanket to ask the little girl's mother.

The mother was surprised.

"They say he's been covering up some of the robberies going on in the city. He's the reason the queen, bless her heart, doesn't know about it."

Elsa's heart skipped a beat and her face flushed. It was one of those cases where she thought she was aware of something, only to find out that she was wrong.

"I keep hearing about robberies, what's happening?" Elsa asked. Her face felt hot. The hat that kept her hair out of sight felt uncomfortable. As she said those words aloud it was as if she thought the whole world was turning to look at her.

"My dear. Since Queen Elsa's," the mother started, then paused to find the right words, "coronation, there's been quite a bit of problems. Robberies, food prices going up, less food around for sale. They say," the mother dropped her voice to a whisper, "that there's been a horrible harvest. No, not a horrible harvest, but some kind of disaster. No one is allowed to talk about it, and anyone that does gets arrested. The governor has been keeping Queen Elsa in the dark about this. She doesn't know anything that's going on."

"Why haven't any of the people told Elsa?" Anna asked, showing her familiarity with someone she should not have been as a common girl. The mother studied Anna, and seeing her eyes filled with idealism and well intent, simply considered her to lack awareness and nothing more.

"Queen Elsa," the mother emphasized to Anna, "my dear, is being fooled. They say the governor intimidates anyone that lines up by the castle gates with the intention of telling the queen..."

The mother trailed off, then she began to ramble about something else, things the common people always liked to talk about. Elsa and Anna looked at each other with confusion, and then settled to quietly listen to the snippets of conversations that they could eavesdrop on if they did not talk.

"... working with the thieves, he is..."

"Just last week, my mother went to line up to see Queen Elsa, and then she was stopped by a guard..."

"... can't get any news of out of the city..."

"Shh, don't say that out loud, you'll get arrested too."

In the half voices these whispers droned on like a chorus of angry bees.

"I don't believe it," Anna said to Elsa, and she looked around at the people. Even though the topic of the conversations were rather dark and foreboding, there were still young children playing and laughing nearby, oblivious to the troubles their parents had in their minds. "It's so peaceful and nice tonight."

"It's not too bad in the city. I heard a rumor going on that people are starving in the countryside," the mother said, hearing Anna's voice, which she had failed to suppress due to the strength of her convictions about the wellbeing of Arendelle.

And at this, Anna whispered a soft "Kristoff..." to herself.

"Starving, why are they starving?" Elsa asked with some anger. Her face was smooth but her voice betrayed her emotion.

"Anyone that mentions the rumor can be arrested on sight."

"What, that's unbelievable, you cannot to that, tell us what's causing the problem," Anna said.

The mother only nodded, and after seeing no one was watching, mouthed the word "magic" at Elsa and Anna. Her face, matronly but worn out and tired from peasant work, immediately felt a sense of satisfaction at what she had done. But at the same time, she also regretted the rashness of her action, and so she looked around carefully to make sure no one else had seen what she had done.

Elsa's calm and solemn expression, which had already lost all hints of the joy she experienced earlier that day, turned to stone at once. She knew what it meant, there was trouble in Arendelle, and the people believed it was because of her magic.

"That's silly, it's all nonsense. People are just gossiping and spreading stories," Anna said with her light heart. Her eyes were shining with optimism. "Elsa's magic isn't dangerous..."

Anna trailed off, and her personality came through, and she started talking what the mother thought was naive and childish nonsense. At that point, the mother was growing suspicious of why this lively girl was speaking about the queen so familiarly. She was close enough to see Anna's freckles, and there was something about her that did not fit into the clothes she was wearing. She had a liveliness and vivacious energy that was usually crushed in all but the most strong willed of the peasant girls. Then there was her sister, who had a nervous expression and seemed as if she did not go outside much. Why does she keep touching her hat?

"It's about to start, mama," the little girl said, tugging her mother's pants. The mother turned, and seeing her little girl and the look of innocent and childish excitement on her face, forgot about the mystery of the red headed girl and her strange sister.

*** ANNA  
**

Although the play was just as well performed as it was during the Harvest Festival, Anna could not enjoy it as much. She was weighed down by the revelation of what was said earlier. Perhaps it was the belief that Arendelle was so prosperous, and the shattering of this belief that was the most difficult to accept for a person like Anna.

The candle lamps by edges of the squares were lit, and people began getting up. There must have been a thousand of so people there in that square. Three young men noticed Elsa and Anna getting up from their blanket and walked over to them.

"Hello there," one of the them, a tall one with bad teeth, said.

"Oh, Hello," Anna said without much of her usual cheerfulness, but she still managed to sound pleasant and polite.

"Woah, what do we have here?" the second asked.

"It's your lucky day, ladies," said the last of them, who had a large knife slash where his right eye should have been.

"And why is that?" Anna asked, with a fiery temper mattering her hair and the freckles on her slender shoulders.

The one of the bad teeth smiled, the sight of which made Anna cringe.

"We're part of the guards. You are peasant girls. It's your honor to get to know us," he said.

"Let's go get some drinks, ladies."

"Get your hands off me," Anna said to one of them, and she bit the arm of the man that grabbed her by the arm.

Meanwhile, Elsa was backing off, and she was feeling an acute anxiety of being surrounded by strangers, and being so vulnerable out in the open.

"Nice hat," the one eyed guard said to Elsa, and took her hat. "That's a strange hair color," he said observantly, "no one but the queen has silver hair."

"Give me my hat," Elsa said with indignation, and her face looked as if she was about to cry. But this was how she always looked when her personal space had been so violated, and was not a reflection of her actual moods.

Anna, hearing her sister's cry, turned around and said something she really should not have said.

"Elsa, the hat," was that.

The guard with the hat immediately put two and two together.

"It's Queen Elsa," he cried. "Everyone, Queen Elsa is here. And this, this, she must be Princess Anna."

The other two stopped harassing Anna at once. The three of them immediately knelt down in apology of their past behavior. And not only this, there was a crowd forming around them now, and soon, there were whispers.

"Why is the queen wearing peasant clothing?"

"Why are her majesty here?"

"Mama, she's so beautiful, weren't you just talking to her?"

Two people forced their way to the front of the crowd.

"Your majesty, please, we need to get back to the castle," a guard said, while another one started to force people apart to make a path to walk.

"Who are you?" Elsa asked, frowning at them and creasing her eyes to see his face.

"We're castle guards. This way please."

But there was nothing to be done. It was two guards against a whole crowd of adoring masses for their princess and queen. Anna could not catch all their shouts, but some of them included how the governor should be sacked, there were shouts about how Anna and Elsa were very beautiful. Others yelled about their misfortune, or something they had that bothered them.

Anna really enjoyed herself. The experience of being positively worshiped and laden with so much attention had temporarily washed away the thoughts of what was said before the play.

Although they were many and loud, the people all kept a respectful distance by themselves, without anyone's insistence. Anna smiled at them, beaming brightly, and her blue eyes shone at the happy common peoples waving back at her. There was not a single peasant that walked up to within arms length of them. Obviously they were afraid of dirtying their queen and princess by touching them with their commoner hands.

"Hello," Anna said to one. "Hello. Hi there. Wasn't the play lovely?" Anna shouted back into the crowd, to cheers and applause. "The actress playing me was really great. It was a wonderful play. What a beautiful night." These things Anna yelled back into the crowd, at different people, or rather, bunches of people, and every time the crowd would grow louder and more elated.

But Elsa was not as pleased. The vulnerability she experienced showed through her body language. She crossed her arms in front of her. She looked down. And eventually it was too much and she had to use ice to force a path between the circling crowd.

The common people, amazed and frightened by her powers, backed off at once. It was as if the crowd was a single person with a singular mood, and the elation they felt only moments before turned to apprehension and a bit of fear.

"Come on Anna," Elsa said. And they started to run. The two guards came after them.

"Sorry everyone, it was really nice to meet you all," Anna yelled back at them, and this appeased the crowd enough for them to start cheering again. Then, biting her lip in concentration, she stepped onto the icy path Elsa had made.

When they had turned a corner a bit later, and the street was empty and dark, they stopped and caught their breath.

"They were so nice," Anna said. "A little too friendly, but still nice."

But Elsa was not in a similar mood. Her face was pale, and her complexion looked cold, like marble.

"Who sent you to follow us," she asked the two guards, who were also breathless after running.

"Master Aleksander, your majesty."

Upon hearing his name, Anna's cheerful face fell, and so she looked rather silly with rosy red puffy cheeks, and an upset expression.

"What's this about the governor arresting people because of them spreading rumors."

"I know nothing about it, your majesty," one of the guards said. "I'm always in the castle."

The other one was more hesitant. He had an honest and kind face, and this seemed to show itself in his character because he did answer.

"It's true your majesty. We are told to arrest anyone that mentions anything about the increases in robberies, or higher food prices since your coronation, or, or, anything bad."

Anna bit her lip again, this time it was out of frustration and confusion at what had happened. In the darkness of the empty street, she could easily see the governor's mature and noble looking face with streaks of gray hair in her mind. He did not seem the plotting and devious kind.

Neither did Hans, she reminded herself.

"And what about the fact that people are kept from seeing me to tell me these things."

"It's true your majesty," the guard said, "I was told to pay two silver pieces to anyone that were coming to talk to you about it. We ask them what they are asking before they come into the castle anyways. If they refuse we arrest them."

"Where do they take them?" Anna asked with a whisper. Her lower lip trembled with apprehension at asking and it seemed so wrong to hear such an ominous and loaded question in the tone of such a voice that was usually reserved for expressing laughter and amazement at the positive aspects of the world.

"To prison. Our prisons are overflowing," the other guard said. "I know that much."

Elsa did not have any more questions, and then there was a silent pause. This pause served to shake them and to remind them of where they were.

"Let's go back to the castle," Elsa said, and they went.

At the side gate, the two guards went first, and after Elsa's orders, distracted the guards at the gate for them to go in.

After that Elsa and Anna both went to their own rooms, not saying much except to agree they would talk about it at length the next day.

A while later, Anna was laying in bed with a sense of foreboding and fear. A wave of anxiety washed over her when she realized how few people she could really trust. Her eyes were very bright in the dark, looking up at the high ceiling of her bedroom. Very bright, and very expressively anxious.

Then another wave of anxiety.

That Aleksander works for the governor, he must be in on it too.

Anna tossed and turned, not being able to sleep.

Kristoff, whom had always been on her mind, seemed so far away in those moments.

She didn't know what it all meant, and this knowing of not knowing kept her up a long time. Eventually, she had to get up to use the chamber pot.

Leaving her room, she went and started walking down the hall. All the candles were unlit, which was unusual, and Anna saw her own shadow was large and imposing.

Then Anna heard footsteps.

She made a corner, and then saw the governor coming towards her. His face was distorted with rage, and standing taller than he normally was. He drew the sword he carried as a military man, and pointed it at Anna.

Run, Anna told herself.

Run.

But she couldn't move her legs. In fact, she couldn't move any part of her body at all, being paralyzed with fear.

She looked down at her body. No, it wasn't because of fear.

It was because she had been frozen solid.

Anna woke with a start. She had a cold sweat and was breathing quickly.

It was just a dream, Anna thought. It was just a really, really scary dream. You are not frozen.

I'll pinch myself to be sure.

Ow. Ow. Definitely awake.

Then there was a long stretch of time when she just laid there in bed, keeping quiet, and listening for any sound at all, only to hear her own rhythmic breathing.

What is going to happen now? Anna thought, and this was her last thought before drifting off to sleep.


End file.
